Tag Archives: chicken

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Soto is the name for rice soup, found all over Java. Lamongan is a town not far from Surabaya and soto Lamongan is its speciality. This dish is available all over Surabaya, and I tried it at a streetside foodstall near my hotel.

The rice is in a turmeric yellow stock, with white noodle, chicken, egg and a squirt of lime juice. It tasted richer than the Central Javanese soto I am used to, but less curryish than the Jakartan soto I have tried. It was delicious, rich and filling but not too much so, and is well worth a try if you get the opportunity.

Part of an occasional series about food I have eaten in South East Asia.

Sate ayam, or chicken satay, cooked over glowing embers, giving it a slightly smokey flavour. With a generous drizzle of peanut sauce. Sitting on a bed of lontong. Lontong is rice wrapped up tightly in a banana leaf in a tube shape, and boiled until the rice grains are no longer visible, then allowed to cool, before being opened and cut into chunky slices to eat.

Sate ayam is usually sold in the evening here in Central Java, both at street food stalls with mats for diners to sit on, and by sellers who push their boat-shaped trolleys around the streets hawking their fare. Many sate sellers are from the island Madura, just northeast of Java, and Sate Ayam Madura is therefore well-known.